Gratsu Week 2018
by mdelpin
Summary: Day 6 Prompt: Secrets : Natsu lets his feelings for Gray blind him to the nature of their relationship until it becomes too painful for him to continue.
1. You Are My Magic

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

You're My Magic

"Damnit!" Natsu screamed with frustration as the skin on his arm began to sting and blister. He jerked his hand out of the fire. He'd been trying to grab his marshmallow that had fallen off of his stick and after years of reaching for it without a thought he'd managed to forgot yet again that he no longer had any magic. Without his magic he was no longer immune to fire.

Gray quickly used his ice magic to soothe his boyfriend's skin realizing belatedly that this would only make things worse.

Gray saw Natsu look at the mist of ice that was soothing his skin with desperate longing. Most of the time he tried to appear unaffected but it was at times like this, when one of them used their magic around him that they truly saw how bad things really were for Natsu.

'Shit.' Gray thought and berated himself for his thoughtlessness.

Lucy had been able to keep Natsu from disappearing by rewriting the Book of E.N.D, but she was a writer and everything she had added in his book was a story. She told the plot and described his personality but mostly she wove in how he made her feel and how he made others feel. She had forgotten to add in the one thing that brought Natsu to life more than anything else, his magic. Perhaps it was just such an intrinsic part of him that she never even thought to add it, convinced that it would never fade. But it had, his magic container was not reformed, and Natsu was having a lot of trouble adjusting to it's absence.

With the loss of his fire magic, he had also lost some of the fire in his personality. These days you were more likely to find him by the river staring out into nothingness than in the guild starting a brawl. In fact, he hardly went to the guild at all. It was too much of a reminder of who he used to be. Natsu had lost his link to Igneel and in many ways he had lost himself and Gray was having a hell of a time bringing him back.

He had tried everything he could think of to bring his love back to himself, back to them and he would continue trying. He had no plans of giving up. He loved Natsu more than anything and he had worked too hard and for too long to convince him of that fact to lose him now.

Gray grabbed Natsu's arm gently to examine the damage. He had injured himself badly but Gray knew better than to suggest they go see Wendy. That would only make things worse.

"Let's go home and get this taken care of, alright love?" Gray made a point of asking so that Natsu had a chance to disagree but he just nodded listlessly and followed after the ice mage. Gray used his ice to put out the fire, aware of Natsu's hungry eyes watching he did it as quickly as possible. He knew that right now Natsu was thinking about how he would have been able to eat that fire, about how good it had tasted.

Gray put his arm around Natsu's waist and gently led him towards their apartment. Natsu had moved in with him a few weeks after returning from his training journey. They had missed each other so much during that year that they knew there was no point in being apart any longer. They had both mellowed considerably in the other's absence making it easier to cohabitate. They fought less, they loved more and they loved often. They had been happy. Until Zeref had shown up.

Once home, Gray went about finding their First Aid Kit, he looked everywhere he could think of when it wasn't in their bathroom. He finally found it in the kitchen and remembered that Natsu had burnt himself while making dinner the previous week. He grabbed the kit and went back to the living room where Natsu was sitting on their futon.

"You know, Natsu." Gray talked as he began to clean the wound as gently as he could. "There's so much more to you than just your magic. All the other things that make you Natsu are still there, and they're all good."

Natsu remained quiet but he was watching him so Gray knew he was listening. Gray finished treating the wound. He put on some salve and bandaged it. He sat on the coffee table and faced his boyfriend.

"For years I was so alone and scared, locked up in my own little world terrified of getting hurt again." Gray began as he looked Natsu in the eyes, "There was nothing and no one that could make me feel anything, until you came along. You forced me to see you even when I didn't want to, you made me fight hard to keep up with you because I didn't want to be left behind. I wanted to be by your side always. You drew me to you."

"You were the only one who ever gave me hope for my future." Gray continued. " The only one who was able to melt my heart and make me want this." He motioned to the two of them. "That was never about your magic."

"It was you, Natsu. Not your magic, just you. You did this when no one else could, it was like you cast a spell on me and I was helpless to resist you." Gray said and he kissed his lover tenderly and as he felt Natsu respond to his kiss he hummed contentedly until they separated.

Gray took Natsu's uninjured hand in his and kissed the knuckles. "You are my magic Natsu, and you always will be. I wouldn't want it any other way."

Natsu rolled his eyes and grinned at him, a shadow of his previous grin but it was the first real smile Gray had seen in a very long time. "You are so sappy, Ice Princess."

Gray began to argue how he was not at all sappy thank you very much when Natsu grabbed him in a desperate hug and whispered "Thank you." in his ear. Gray hugged him back and he began to think that maybe, just maybe things were going to be alright.

A/N I'm really excited to be a part of Gratsu Week for the first time. I can't wait to see and read everyone's entries.


	2. The Scarf That United Us

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

Day 2: Swap

The Scarf That United Us

Erza was tired of watching her two idiotic friends fight constantly. It did not matter what time of day, or what season of the year, no day went by without the two of them battling it out. With or without magic. The slightest comment would be taken as an insult, and off they would go, fists pounding into flesh, elemental magic blasts causing everyone to quickly get out of the way or risk being frozen or burned. No matter how many times she knocked their heads together to stop them, they were back at it as soon as she turned around.

Since Natsu had joined the guild, he and Gray had caused so much destruction that the Master had taken to deducting a percentage of their pay to create a fund to cover the repairs. Neither one complained, after Natsu had burned the guild down once during one of their fights, they knew it was more than fair.

While they fought, they were exhilarated, adrenaline flowed through their bodies, and there was nothing more important than to beat the ever living crap out of each other. It was their solution to every problem. Natsu was upset that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't find Igneel? He'd look for Gray and make him pay. Gray had a nightmare where he felt powerless after watching Deliora destroy everything he cared about? Natsu was the perfect punching dummy to make him feel powerful again.

Some of the older members of the guild were concerned that Natsu and Gray's relationship was becoming toxic. Makarov chose to stand in the sidelines and watch them. He knew there was no real animosity between the two, they were two growing boys with a lot of energy and passion, and they both knew they could take whatever the other could dish out. More often than not, they would go back to sitting next to each other after they were done.

As time passed both Erza and Makarov began to notice a change in the pattern of Natsu and Gray's fights. They had become more violent and aggressive with each other. Their insults rang truer, their fists hit harder, and at the end of the fight, one of them would invariably slam the guild doors on his way out. Something was wrong, but no one had any idea of what had happened. They began taking solo jobs to stay away from the other, but any time they were in the same room they were immediately at each other's throats.

Makarov decided to take matters into his own hands and get to the bottom of the situation. The next time Natsu and Gray were in the guild, he cornered them and led them into his office before they could get into a fight. He waited until they sat down.

"Alright, boys. I've tried to let you handle this by yourselves, but I think it's time you tell me what's going on." Makarov said as he watched the two boys squirm in their seats.

"Nothing's going on, Gramps," Gray responded first, his tone tight.

"How many times do I have to apologize?" Natsu countered angrily. "It was just a stupid bracelet, I'll buy you another one, Ice Block."

Gray sat in the chair, wanting the hurt to go away. But it wouldn't. He took a deep breath, he was absolutely not having it out with the Flame Brain in front of the old man. Just when he thought he was going to be okay….

"It was not just a stupid bracelet, you moron." Gray yelled, "It was my father's. I took it from his body when I found it. So how? How are you going to get me another one? My father's dead, you asshole."

Natsu paled as he fingered his scarf nervously. He hadn't known that. How was he supposed to know that? Gray never shared anything about himself. He'd always worn the bracelet, but Natsu had never thought about where it had come from. Gray's bracelet meant as much to him as Igneel's scarf did to Natsu, and he had destroyed it. Melted it until its links were unrecognizable. What had he done? It had been an accident, but he had really hurt his friend, and he didn't know how to make it better.

Makarov watched silently, waiting to see what Natsu would do. He knew that both boys were very kind-hearted despite the way they acted. He was curious how they would resolve this situation.

"I-I don't know what to say," Natsu said, looking as if he was ready to cry. Gray was his best friend, even if he wasn't sure the ice mage saw him the same way. He'd thought the ice block was overreacting, but now he knew the truth. Natsu had hurt him badly, and he needed to make it better. " I never meant to melt it, I can't control the heat of my flames all that well yet. Macao's been trying to teach me how to get better at it."

Gray tried to rein in the desire he felt to punch the younger boy. He could see for the first time that Natsu was genuinely sorry for what he had done. Even if taking out his misery on Natsu made him feel better in the moment, he knew he would feel bad about it afterward.

Natsu looked down at his scarf, the one thing he held dearest, and quickly unwrapped it from its permanent position around his neck. He felt naked, and a deep sense of loss assailed him, but he ignored it as he offered it to Gray.

"What?" Gray asked him confused. "What do you want me to do with it?" Natsu never took his precious scarf off. It was the only thing he had left to remind him of Igneel.

Makarov smiled gently as he saw Natsu try to give his friend his most prized possession. He was curious what Natsu was thinking,

"T-take it," Natsu said quickly, not wanting to lose his nerve. "I'll swap you my scarf for your bracelet. Just until I can fix it."

"I can't take your scarf, Natsu," Gray said simply. "I know how much it means to you."

"Take it," Natsu yelled. "Igneel would not be happy with me if he knew what I did. I will make this better, so don't get too attached to it, you hear?"

Gray looked at Makarov, at a loss as to what to do, and the old man nodded at him to take the offered scarf. He grabbed it uncertainly and wrapped it around his neck. Natsu held out his hand expectantly.

"What do you want?"

"Give me the bracelet." Natsu answered and before Gray could protest that he didn't have it he said ."Don't bother denying it, I can smell it in your pocket."

Gray shrugged and grabbed the misshapen remains of the bracelet from his pants pocket. He handed them over to the Fire Dragon Slayer.

Natsu smiled and yelled his signature, "I'm all fired up. I'll have this fixed before you know it." before he ran out of the room screaming for Reedus.

"You know Gray, if he had hurt you so badly you should have told him. You have a tendency to keep things in. Natsu doesn't understand that, he lets everything out." Makarov scolded.

"I can't believe he gave me Igneel's scarf," Gray muttered, fingering the well-loved fabric. He had to admit it had a nice soothing smell, although to him it just smelled of Natsu, the dragon smell so faint only a dragon slayer could pick it out.

"I'm expecting you to take good care of it, no retaliation," Makarov growled. "Are we clear? This is not something that was easy for him."

Gray nodded and realized with dismay that he had to somehow keep this piece of clothing on, he could not imagine what would happen if he lost it. He got up, and after waving goodbye to Makarov, he went back downstairs. He saw Natsu engaged in a rather animated conversation with Reedus but thought nothing of it. Twenty minutes later Natsu left the guild with a piece of paper in his hand.

Gray got odd looks as people saw him wearing Natsu's scarf, but everyone knew they had come from Makarov's office and assumed it was part of some punishment. He sat down, and Erza immediately joined him, a piece of cake at the ready.

"What's that about?" Erza asked as she put a piece of cake in her mouth.

"Natsu traded me his scarf for my bracelet," Gray responded.

"Why would he do that?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself." Gray shrugged still confused as to what would have possessed Natsu to part with his precious scarf.

Weeks passed, and Natsu became more and more dejected. He was no closer to finding anyone who could remake the melted metal into Gray's father's bracelet, even though he had done nothing but search. He had thought that having Reedus draw a picture of the bracelet would have made it a breeze, but none of the jewelers that he talked to had the tools needed to do what he wanted. They would refer him to different towns.

He'd take jobs based on their location, as he still needed to make money to cover his expenses, and eventually pay for the bracelet. Natsu wanted to make sure it was fireproof so that he could never melt it again, and that would be pricey as well. In a way, it was kind of like following leads in his search for Igneel, he always returned empty-handed.

Their brawls went back to normal now that Gray was no longer angry at Natsu and that helped a little, but every time he saw Gray wearing his scarf he was filled with longing. Nats missed having his father's smell near him all the time. He had begun having nightmares again, and now he had nothing to comfort him. One night, after a particularly bad one, he couldn't take it anymore. He got up from his bed and ran all the way to Gray's house, knocking desperately on the door when he got there. When Gray opened the door, he found Natsu in tears.

"What's wrong?" Gray asked with concern. It was late at night, and he had never seen Natsu like this, not even when he had first arrived at the guild a year ago.

"Please, can I just….." Natsu said looking at Gray, willing him to understand what he needed.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Gray asked sleepily as he let his friend into his small apartment. Natsu just nodded.

"Come on," Gray said and led him to his bedroom. He got the scarf from his nightstand and handed it to Natsu. Natsu hugged it against him as he inhaled Igneel's scent, embedded into the very essence of the fabric.

"Thanks," Natsu said, and as he continued to hold the scarf against him, his eyes began to close.

Gray rolled his eyes and placed Natsu on his bed. He turned off the light and climbed in next to him covering them with his blankets. Gray fell asleep listening to Natsu's even breathing. In the morning he found that he had wrapped himself around the younger boy and blushed. Gray had to admit, it felt nice to have him there.

He disentangled himself and watched Natsu sleep, as he thought about the situation. He had to find a way to get Natsu to take the scarf back, whatever he was trying to do, was not working. Gray could see that the loss of his scarf was taking its toll on him. Natsu finally woke up and the first thing he did was look at the scarf that he was still hugging. He let out a sigh of happiness that melted Gray's heart.

"You can have it back, you know." Gray told him."It's ok. I know you tried, and that's enough."

"No. I promised I was going to make it right and I will." Natsu said stubbornly. "Do you doubt me?"

"No, Natsu." Gray sighed, he could already tell this would escalate if he pushed. "Of course not."

Natsu sniffed his scarf one more time before silently handing it back to Gray. "Thanks for letting me stay last night."

"You can come back if you need to," Gray told him as he let Natsu out of his apartment.

Gray would like to say that he came to regret that statement, but he would be lying. At first, Natsu would stay over once a week. Then it was twice, these days he was there more often than not. While Natsu smelled Igneel, Gray would breathe in Natsu. It was odd how much he liked this unusual arrangement. Gray never said anything about it because he didn't want to spook Natsu away. Even though they quite often woke up tangled in each other's arms, nothing was ever said about it. Natsu always left in the morning. This went on for years, until the day when everything changed forever.

The guild Phantom Lord had attacked them and after much fighting Fairy Tail had come out victorious. To their surprise, Makarov had invited two of their members, Gajeel Redfox, and Juvia Lockser to join Fairy Tail.

Gray had beaten Juvia, one of Phantom Lord's strongest mages in battle. In the process, he had managed to earn her undying love, something she made sure to declare daily. Gray could not bring himself to even think about her though, his mind now full of the Fire Dragon Slayer that lay claim to his bed, albeit platonically.

Gajeel would mostly keep to himself or go on jobs. That's why Gray was shocked when Natsu came into the guild excitedly, and all but dragged Gajeel out with him. Gray noticed Natsu was holding a tattered piece of paper in his hand. Gajeel looked as stunned as Gray by the attention but decided to follow his fellow dragon slayer regardless.

They were gone for hours, and all Gray could do was try to avoid Juvia's advances as much as possible. He played with the scarf and fretted over whether Natsu was interested in the Dragon Slayer or not.

When the dragon slayers returned hours later, Natsu looked entirely too pleased with himself, while Gajeel looked bored. Gray didn't know what to make of it at all. Natsu came charging up to him and grabbed his arm and began pulling him away.

"What are you doing?" Gray complained. "You're going to pull my arm off."

"I have something to show you!" the Fire Dragon Slayer was so excited he looked like he would burst any second. "Come on!" He let go of Gray's arm and dashed off leaving the ice mage no choice but to follow.

Gray chased Natsu to the riverbank they had avoided since the incident and wondered what this could be about. When he arrived, Natsu motioned for him to sit down next to him. He took out the ratty piece of paper.

"The day I swapped you my scarf for your bracelet, I had Reedus draw that for me," Natsu explained.

Gray unfolded the paper and saw a drawing of his bracelet made with as much detail as Reedus was capable of.

"I took that to every jeweler I could find and had no luck. I tried for years and got nowhere, but when I saw Gajeel, I thought he might be able to help me, and he was." Natsu said excitedly.

He took a box out of his pocket and handed it to Gray looking nervous as he did so. Gray took the box and opened it. His father's bracelet was laying on a bed of cotton. He grabbed it and put it on, immediately comforted by its weight. It had been a few years, but he could still tell it was exactly the same.

"I melted the original metal, and Gajeel was able to reshape it from the picture." Natsu smiled. "When I told him that I wanted it to be fireproof he suggested we take it to his friend Totomaru. He did it as a favor to Gajeel, that guy hates my guts." Natsu grinned.

"I did it, Gray!" Natsu exclaimed."It took me years, but I did it."

Gray stripped off the scarf and placed it fondly around Natsu's neck. The Fire Dragon Slayer purred contentedly.

"Did you just purr?" Gray looked at the fire mage surprised.

"No," Natsu said quickly. "Dragons don't purr."

"Well, you said you'd do it, and you did." Gray said "Thank you. I guess now that you have your scarf back I'm going to miss you at night."

"Who says I'm going to go anywhere?" Natsu scoffed.

"I thought you were only there for the scarf?" Gray said dumbly.

"Sure, at first." Natsu chuckled. "Did you really think that was the only reason? And here, I thought I was supposed to be the oblivious one."

"You want to be there?" Gray asked surprised.

Natsu leaned his face closer to the ice mage's and pressed his lips against Gray's awkwardly. "Does that answer your question?"

Gray nodded, a little dazed by the unexpected kiss. He smiled happily. "I wanted you to be there too!"

He admired his bracelet in wonder. Who the hell would have thought that Natsu melting it would have led to this? They sat quietly taking in the view, both looking forward to the night and the new adventures it now held.


	3. World So Cold

_I never thought I'd feel this_  
 _Guilty and I'm Broken down inside_  
 _Living with myself Nothing but lies_

 _I always thought I'd make it_  
 _But never knew I'd Let it get so bad_  
 _Living with myself Is all I have_

 _\- World So Cold by Three Days Grace_

Day 3: Cold

World So Cold

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

Natsu walked out into the cold pre-dawn air closing the door behind him gently, not wanting to wake up Happy. If his heart had not already broken, it would do so now as he abandoned his son figure without a word or a note goodbye. Just like Igneel had done to him. He knew it was for the best, he could no longer stay in Magnolia and Happy would insist on coming with him. He could not take him from Carla and Lily and all the people that he loved. Wendy would take care of Happy, of that he was sure. Eventually, he hoped Happy would come to understand why he had to leave.

He quickly checked to make sure he had all of his belongings with him before taking one last look at the place he had called home. The sign that read Natsu & Happy exuded a cheer he no longer felt. Still, he tried to feel something through the numbness that had settled into his soul the moment her screams had died, and he knew without a doubt that she was never coming back. He felt nothing, but then again he hadn't really expected to. How could he? He had killed Lucy with the magic that he had only ever used to help people or destroy enemies. He shivered as the chill in the air settled uncomfortably on his exposed skin. He would need to get used to this feeling, find nonmagical ways to fight it off.

Cold. The word meant both nothing and everything to Natsu. It was something that he had never really felt physically, yet it also represented the one person he loved the most. Natsu had never spoken those words out loud, never let him know how he felt, and now that he was leaving he never would. It was just as well, he was no longer worthy of love.

He examined the magic sealing bracelet he was wearing on his right wrist. He had not locked it yet, there was still one last task that required his magic. Then he would lock it and be burdened with his magic no more. He began walking towards the edge of town trying to beat the sun so that no one could see him leave. He almost succeeded. Ahead of him, there was one person who had remained sober through all the recent events, mostly because he wasn't old enough to drink. And he had been watching.

Romeo Conbolt stood at the edge of town. He had been standing in this same spot for several hours not quite sure when Natsu was going to try to sneak out of town but aware that it would be on this day. Lucy's funeral had been yesterday, and with the guilt the Fire Dragon Slayer felt, he was bound to take off.

"Where's Happy?" Romeo asked, his face saddened at the realization that he'd been correct. As it had gotten later, he'd started to hope that maybe he'd been wrong.

"He's at home sleeping," Natsu replied, looking down at the ground. He was not so far gone that he wasn't disgusted by his actions.

"You're leaving him behind? Did you at least tell him you were leaving?" Romeo demanded.

The way Natsu refused to meet his eyes was enough of an answer.

"Damnit, Natsu! You don't have to leave at all."

"You're wrong Romeo. I don't deserve to live here any longer, and Happy deserves a better life than what he would get where I'm going. I know he won't understand that at first, but time dulls all wounds. It certainly did that for me."

"Did it?" Romeo kept trying to catch his eyes but one week as a guest of the Magic Council had taught Natsu to evade many things, and Romeo was still only a boy.

"Here." He handed Romeo the envelope he had been planning on mailing from the next town over, "I was going to mail this to you anyway. You're to open this only in an emergency and by that I mean something happening to Happy, Gramps, Erza, Wendy or Gray. Take care Romeo, and take care of them."

He gave the boy that he'd come to love as a younger brother a hug and made his way out of town. He did not look back and as he walked he removed his Fairy Tail tattoo from his right shoulder. He was not sure if they could use it to track him and he very much did not want to be found. A click was heard as he locked his bracelet, removing himself from his magic and from his heat. He felt the cold seep in immediately and thought of the one he left behind.

'Goodbye, Gray. I wish you well, Ice Princess.'

xxx

Gray opened his eyes and instantly regretted it as the pounding in his head overwhelmed all of his senses and made him want to vomit. Looking around slowly, Gray tried to nurse the massive hangover he had woken up to. He was sitting on one of the barstools in the guild hall. He must have passed out at the bar again. Gray wasn't shocked, he had woken up here every day for the last two weeks.

The last few weeks had been anything but ordinary, and he had spent them drowning in a haze of alcohol that had impressed even Cana. He wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell of booze and sweat and was disgusted to realize it was coming from him. He was rather impressed with the self-restraint that Mira must have shown by not dumping a barrel of soapy water over him. He got up and headed home for a shower, a change of clothes and a hell of a lot of aspirin.

It had been three weeks since the accident and no matter how much he drank Lucy was still dead, and everything had still gone to shit. It was time to man up and get back to some semblance of normalcy. He was still alive, and he knew that Lucy would not have wanted him to drown in sorrow. That was just the way she was. She was always someone to look at the bright side of things.

Loke had taken her death especially hard. He'd not been able to stop it, none of them had. Not even Horologium. Natsu, of course, had taken it the worst. He blamed himself for her death, it had been his magic that killed her after all. No matter how much Erza and Gray tried to tell him it was an accident, the stubborn idiot wouldn't accept it. They had spent most of that first week as guests of the Magic Council.

The Magic Council took mage's deaths very seriously, especially if they happened while performing duties for a guild. They immediately launched an investigation into Lucy's death. Gray and Erza had been placed in separate cells while Natsu had been placed in a magic sealing stone until Lucy's death was finally determined accidental. He had been questioned daily, for hours at a time until Makarov had put a stop to it. Once they were released, they tried to ask him about what happened during the interrogations, but he refused to discuss it. They'd lost track of him after the funeral. They all returned to the guild for the wake, her friends from other guilds had also come to pay their respects. Her celestial spirits had all opened their gates to say goodbye to their beloved Master. Levy had read one of Lucy's short stories out loud, and then everyone had shared their favorite memories of Lucy, sharing laughs about her amidst their tears as they said goodbye.

Loke, Erza, Natsu, and Gray could not find it in their hearts to laugh. Her screams were still too fresh in their minds. Then the drinking had begun. Gray thought that Natsu had been there when they discovered the temporary bliss of forgetting that the alcohol granted them. He thought he remembered a fight breaking out between Loke and the Flame Brain, but he couldn't be sure. He was already drunk by then.

Gray couldn't remember the last time he had seen the hot head but figured it had been at least two weeks. Now that he had somewhat sobered up he went to go pay his rival a visit to check up on him. He wasn't exactly worried he told himself, it just felt unnatural to go that long without fighting the squinty-eyed bastard.

He left his apartment and headed towards the small house at the edge of the woods where Natsu lived with Happy, his Exceed. He spent the entire walk trying to figure out what he was going to say to Natsu once he saw him, trying to ignore the flutter in his heart that was trying to make itself known. By the time he reached Natsu's front door he'd still not come up with anything, he'd just have to wing it.

Gray knocked on the door and waited, but no one came. He knocked louder to the same result. Finally, he just tried the door and found it unlocked. Gray entered the house and did not have to look around very much to determine the house was abandoned. Natsu's hammock, as well as all his clothes, were gone.

Gray went in search of Erza, hoping for an answer. Not much happened at Fairy Tail without her knowledge. He attempted to ignore the dread that had settled in his stomach the moment he realized Natsu was gone. He found her back at the guildhall already drunk. Gray sighed in frustration, he wouldn't be able to get anything out of her for a while.

He looked around the guild until he spotted Wendy Marvell, a sometimes team member and a dragon slayer like Natsu. The dragon slayers usually kept track of each other, didn't they?

"Wendy, have you seen the Flame Brain? I'm itching for a fight." Gray asked nonchalantly, hiding the emotions that were now warring within him.

Wendy looked at him sadly and shook her head. "No one has seen him for weeks. We searched for him, but I don't think he wants to be found."

"Why didn't anyone tell me? I would have gone to look for him. Erza too." Gray growled.

"We did try to tell you, several times. You weren't interested in anything that didn't come out of a barrel." Wendy replied bitterly, "At first we thought the two of you'd had a fight, and that's why he left, but then we figured it had something to do with Lucy. He wasn't the same after-"

"Ok, thanks!" he interrupted rudely before she could finish. Guilt flooded him as he realized that while he had been wallowing in drink, Natsu had been drowning in his pain. With Erza out of commission, it would be up to him to find the idiotic lizard before he did something stupid. He rushed to his home to pack a bag, trying to ignore the ice cold panic that seeped into his soul at the thought that he might already be too late.

To Be Continued…...

A/N This story will be continued in either Day 5's Prompt: Caught or Day 7's Sun. 


	4. That's What Family Is For

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

Day 4 Prompt: Reunion

That's What Family Is For

Gray groaned as he heard the phone ring loudly from his nightstand. He could have sworn he'd put the damn thing on vibrate before he'd gone to bed. Still half-asleep Gray briefly considered ignoring it, but a quick peek out his window showed it was still dark out. He sighed in defeat and stretched his arm to grab the offending device, stopping briefly to see who the caller was. He groaned, it was his brother Lyon. This better be important.

"Hello?" he mumbled into the phone.

"Gray? Oh, thank God you're home. You _are_ home, right?" the slightly panicked voice of his older brother assaulted Gray's ear, and he quickly woke up, a twinge of worry creeping up his spine.

"Yeah, I just got home from a job a few hours ago." he replied and quickly asked, "Is everything ok?"

"Yes, everything's fine. I just need a huge favor." Lyon answered. "Meredy missed her flight and had to catch a later one. She won't be able to make it home in time to take the girls to school, and I have to meet a client in an hour. Can you please take them? I'll drop them off to you on my way to work. Please? You know I wouldn't ask if I had any other option."

Gray screamed internally, a quick glimpse at his watch informed him that he'd only gotten two hours of sleep after arriving home from the flight from hell. He was tired, cranky and honestly a tad hungover. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with two little girls, but Lyon was right he never asked him for help. It was an emergency, and that was what family was for.

"Yeah, fine," Gray replied as he made his way to the kitchen to determine whether he had any food in the house to offer his nieces. He'd been gone for a week and had planned on going grocery shopping after he woke. "How much time do I have before you get here?"

"I'll be there in 30 minutes," Lyon said excitedly. "Thank you so much, I totally owe you one. Don't worry about food I'll give them some Pop Tarts or something."

Lyon hung up, and Gray wondered at the excitement in his brother's voice for a minute before promptly forgetting it as he made his way to his bathroom. He would need a cold shower to try to wake himself up, and coffee, lots of coffee.

He stared at himself in the mirror debating whether to shave or not, ultimately deciding it was too much effort. He dried off and grabbed some clean clothes, not bothering to see if they matched. He was only driving the girls to school after all. He ran his fingers through his hair, which was already spiking in all directions as it usually did. He deemed himself presentable and headed to his kitchen to start the coffeemaker.

Mug in hand he looked for the remote and found some cartoons for the girls. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door, and when he opened the door, he was hug tackled by two little girls.

"Uncle Gray!" they yelled at the same time, Lyon arriving behind them. He put an object in his pocket and smiled fondly at the sight of his brother with his daughters. The girls were fraternal twins aged 7, each with blue eyes and hair the color of one of their parents.

"Hey, monsters!" Gray looked down at them and grinned happily as they continued to hold on to him. "I turned the TV on for you, why don't you go in the living room while I get my orders from your dad?"

The girls quickly let go of him at the mention of the TV and ran towards his couch, ecstatic to be allowed to do something which was usually forbidden in the morning.

"Do you want to come in?" Gray asked his brother politely.

"I can't, I have to go to work. Here are the girls' bags, their lunches are already there." Lyon handed him the girls' school bags and looked at him with a strange expression on his face that Gray was not able to interpret. Lyon looked him over and wrinkled his nose. "Please tell me you're going to change out of those clothes before you walk them to school. You look like a bum."

"Walk them to school?" Gray said surprised, "I was planning on driving them."

"That would be rather impressive considering you have a flat," Lyon told him.

"What?!" Gray went outside to look at his car. Lyon was right, his rear tire was flat. "Shit!" What a crappy way to start the day, he must have driven over a nail on his way home or something.

"Hey, language! If the girls start cursing Meredy's going to assume they got it from me." Lyon complained. "Anyway, I've got to go. Thanks again, and for the love of God change your clothes. Trust me, you'll thank me later!"

With that somewhat cryptic statement, his brother smiled at him before walking towards his car. Seriously what had gotten into him today? Gray shrugged off the feeling that Lyon was up to something and went back inside to spend some time with the girls before they had to leave for school.

It seemed that Lyon had anticipated his lack of food and had sent the girls with enough Pop Tarts for the three of them. The two girls sat on the couch on either side of him and as they watched television and munched on the sweet pastries, they snuggled up against him.

"Uncle Gray, who's Natsu?" Mila, the white-haired twin asked.

"Natsu?" Gray asked puzzled. "Where did you hear that name?"

"Mommy and Daddy were talking about him the other day." Ellie, the pink haired twin answered. "They said you liked him."

Gray felt his cheeks redden and he tried to hide behind his coffee mug. "He's an old friend of mine, I haven't seen him in years."

"You do like him!" Mila squealed. "Your cheeks are red."

"They are most decidedly not, this coffee is just very hot." Gray lied. "Why were they talking about him anyway?"

The little girls shrugged. They had only overheard bits and pieces. They continued to tease him for a little bit but lost interest when he did not respond. Gray began to have a bad feeling about Lyon's strange behavior. He looked down at his clothes and ran upstairs to change, just in case. His heart sped up at the thought of seeing Natsu again, but that was impossible, wasn't it?

Natsu had been his best friend ever since he could remember. He had been his entire world. The reason he'd realized he was gay, his first crush and biggest heartbreak. Gray had finally gotten the nerve to ask him out only to have Natsu tell him rather uncomfortably that he didn't see him that way.

Their friendship had kind of devolved after that, they had tried to do things together, but it was awkward. Soon after, Natsu had started dating Lucy, and that had been the excuse they needed to naturally distance themselves from each other. Gray had never liked Lucy very much. He'd thought her shallow and only interested in Natsu because of his looks. The two had gotten married soon after high school. Gray had been invited to their wedding, but Natsu had been merciful enough to not ask him to be his Best Man. Instead, Lucy's friend Loke had taken his place.

It still hurt when Gray thought of Natsu, of how much he'd lost just by confessing his feelings. He'd been angry at first, they had been friends for so long and to have Natsu just let go of him so easily had hurt. Gray knew part of that was Lucy's doing. He'd never hidden his dislike of her. Deep down he knew if Natsu had wanted to stay in his life, he would have done so. Then again, neither one of them had ever been good with feelings. He'd been in several relationships over the years, but they all lacked that spark that he'd felt for Natsu.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized this couldn't be Natsu related. Lyon had it out for Natsu after he'd found out about the rejection and subsequent abandonment. Gray had been lost, and Lyon had been the one to pick up the pieces. There was no love lost between the two. Still, something was most definitely up. He looked back in his closet and picked a nice pair of black jeans and a blue button-down shirt which he left unbuttoned, he grabbed some boots and put them on as well. He looked at his watch and saw they'd have to get going if he wanted to get them to school on time.

"Alright monsters, time to go," Gray yelled out from his room. "Grab your stuff."

By the time he got to the living room the girls had turned off the TV and were waiting patiently by the door, backpacks already slung over their shoulders. He grabbed his keys and opened the door for them. They left the house and began the fifteen-minute walk to the school.

The girls kept a conversation going amongst themselves content to hold on to Gray's hands as they walked. As they neared the school's playground, he noticed a little girl crying. Mila and Ellie let go of his hands and ran to the playground to meet up with their friends.

The little girl looked eerily familiar to him. She had pink hair and pretty green eyes that were somewhat slanted. He got a strange sense of deja vu just from looking at her.

"Layla honey, it's ok." Gray heard a familiar voice say. "Daddy's going to come pick you up after school. I promise." Gray froze, it was Natsu.

The little girl began to cry harder, and Natsu picked her up in his arms trying to console her. He whispered in her ear, murmuring words and peppering her face with small kisses as he held her tightly. The bell rang, and Mila and Ellie hug tackled their Uncle one last time before running inside.

"Layla, you have to go inside now." Natsu chastised gently as he put her down. "You don't want to be late. I love you, and I promise you I'll be right here when you get out. Ok?"

The little girl nodded and gave her father one last weepy hug before running up the stairs of the school just as the late bell rang. To Gray's surprise, once the little girl was inside Natsu collapsed onto a bench and began to cry. Gray had still not moved from his spot as he stared at the man he hadn't seen for at least 10 years. Before he knew what he was doing, he'd sat down next to him.

"What's wrong, Natsu?" Gray asked a little stiffly. He really wasn't good with emotions, and there were quite a few of them fighting for his attention.

Natsu nearly jumped when he heard the voice saying his name. He fixed his teary eyes on Gray and asked in disbelief, "Gray, is that you?"

"Oh, God. Lyon told you!" Natsu seemed both annoyed and embarrassed.

"Lyon hasn't told me anything," Gray said honestly. "What's going on? When did you get back in town?"

Natsu sighed. "I know it's like 8 o'clock in the morning but can we go get a drink?"

Gray looked at him with concern, Natsu had never been a drinker. "I guess. Are you sure you don't want to go for coffee instead?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"I don't think there are any places open, we could just go back to my place?" Gray left it as an open question, not exactly sure of where they were on the friendship scale at the moment.

"Sure, that sounds great."

They walked in silence all the way back to Gray's house. They entered and headed to the kitchen, Gray pulled a couple of beers out of his fridge and placed them on the counter. Natsu grabbed one and quickly opened it, taking a long swig.

Gray opened his but just held it in his hand for the moment. "So, what's going on?"

Natsu was walking around the house taking in the pictures on the walls until he came to one of the two of them. He took it off the wall and brought it back to the kitchen with him.

He put the frame on the counter and continued to look at it as he drank the rest of his beer.

"I don't deserve to be here," Natsu said as he pointed at the picture frame. He looked at Gray with those beautiful green eyes that he'd missed so much. "I made such a big mistake."

"I'm so sorry, Gray." Natsu teared up again, "I wasn't ready back then."

"What's going on Natsu?" Gray asked confused "Why was your little girl crying?"

"Lucy and I are getting a divorce." Natsu began. "She…. she doesn't let me see Layla very often, so every time she does see me she's terrified that I'll be gone again. This is the first time I've had her overnight."

"What? Why would she do that? Why didn't you call me?" Question after question burst out of Gray's mouth.

"She's angry, and she has every right to be, but she's trying to use Layla to punish me, and that's not right." Natsu began, "We're in the middle of a custody battle at the moment. As for why I didn't call you, there were a lot of reasons, but mainly because I didn't feel I had any right to."

"We're friends Natsu, no matter what happened between us we're at least that. You can always come to me."

"It's because of you," Natsu said quietly.

"What is?" Gray replied dumbly.

"The divorce."

They both remained silent. Natsu got himself another beer out of the fridge, an action that reminded Gray of years of fighting over Natsu emptying his fridge and he found a small smile begin to creep up to his lips. He took that moment to really look at his friend. He had not changed that much over the years, although at the moment he looked haggard.

"I don't understand." Gray finally said.

Natsu sighed. "There's not much to understand. I was a dumbass back in high school. I was scared of how I felt about you. When it was just me, I could accept it. I could tell myself that it was unrequited and I could move on from the feelings. When you told me you felt the same I panicked. It made it too real. I didn't want to deal with those feelings, not when I'd been told all my life they were wrong. So I ran away. From you, from my feelings. I knew Lucy liked me, so I grabbed on to her for dear life."

"It was a mistake, of course, I didn't love her." Natsu continued sadly, "I hurt her worse than I hurt you. Even though I made you both believe something that wasn't true, I started a life with her. I was a coward, but she was so happy. I thought she could be happy enough for both of us." Natsu shrugged miserably. "I don't know."

"As the years passed, I couldn't pretend anymore. Then Layla was born, and I couldn't just leave. Now that she's older I did what I thought was right, I told Lucy the truth about everything." Natsu chuckled nervously. "She didn't take it well. Her dad got her the best lawyers money can buy, and they have the judge believing that I'm a " Natsu made air quotes as he said the next word. "deviant so I'm not allowed much contact with my own daughter."

Gray continued to listen without interrupting, frankly, he had not heard much after "I was scared of how I felt about you." but he was trying.

"I suppose it's karma rearing its ugly head," Natsu said. "I don't really deserve you or Lucy, but I deserve that little girl. I've done nothing but love her unconditionally since the moment I learned of her existence."

Gray couldn't imagine how Natsu must feel. He felt quite strongly about his nieces, and he would be devastated if he couldn't see them as much as he did and they weren't even his. Lucy was playing dirty, and it wasn't fair.

"So you're saying you're gay?" Gray asked.

"That's all you got from all that?" Natsu laughed shakily, somewhat amused. "I mean I know you're somewhat dense but wow."

"No, of course not." Gray scoffed. "I heard the other stuff. I'm just trying to understand. You mentioned something about my brother earlier."

"Oh yeah, he's my lawyer," Natsu replied. "He's trying to help me get joint custody of Layla. Doing a pretty good job too, he's the reason I got the unsupervised overnight visit."

"Lyon is your lawyer?" Gray asked with disbelief. "How on Earth? He hates your guts."

"Yeah, I know. It took me quite a while to convince him." Natsu said honestly. "The first time I went to talk to him he punched me. Then he gave me the card of a police officer so I could report the assault. Your brother is a strange one."

Gray laughed with genuine mirth as he visualized the scene that Natsu had described.

"There was much begging involved. When Lyon met Layla, that's when he finally agreed to help me. He made me explain my actions, and as a condition of taking my case, I had to promise to tell you the truth. Didn't he send you to the school to see me today? I figured that's why you were there. Lyon knew I was going to be dropping Layla off."

"No, he didn't tell me anything. He just asked me to drop the girls off because there was no one else to do it."

'And to dress nicely,' Gray thought to himself. He began to wonder if Lyon had something to do with his flat tire.

"Oh, sorry. I just assumed."

"No, it's fine. , I'm glad you told me." Gray assured him. After a few more moments of silence he burst out with "So, you're really gay." again before he could stop himself.

"Yes, Gray." Natsu looked at him with an amused expression. "I am indeed gay."

"I'm sorry, I'm just having trouble absorbing that," Gray said embarrassed.

"No, _I'm_ sorry. If I'd just been honest back then, I wouldn't be in this mess now."

"So now that you've told me about back then, what is it you want now?" Gray asked.

Natsu looked uncomfortable and nervous at his question, and Gray tensed up, ready for bad news. "I'm in no position for much of anything right now, but I would really like the chance to get to know you again if that's ok?"

"I'd like that," Gray answered honestly. "I've missed you a lot all these years."

Natsu face lit up with a smile that Gray had not seen in years. "I've missed you too." He followed that statement with a loud laugh. "I see you still strip."

Gray looked down at himself, and much to his chagrin saw his shirt on the floor and quickly bent down to pick it up. "Yeah" he laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

"Gray?" Natsu said as he began to tear up.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you. I know this is more than I deserve after what I did."

Gray smiled at him and gave him a hug. "Everything's going to be alright. You'll see. Lyon doesn't lose. He won't give up on you, and neither will I." When Natsu continued to cry, Gray kissed his head and held on to him until he was done.

They spent hours catching up, ordering ridiculous amounts of takeout for lunch just like they used to. Gray felt his heart lighten for the first time in many years. A few hours later Gray closed the door behind Natsu who was headed back to school to pick up Layla. Gray didn't want to get ahead of himself, but he felt hopeful. He grabbed his phone and scrolled through his contacts, clicking on the one that said Arrogant Asshole. He had a brother he needed to thank.

"Lyon" he smiled into the phone. "I changed my clothes and just so you know, you owe me a new tire."

A/N For anyone who read Not Your Wingman, this was the original story idea that somehow devolved as I wrote it. Maybe you'll like this one better.


	5. When Fire Tamed Ice

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

Day 5 Prompt: Caught

When Fire Tamed Ice

There was a lot of laughing and cheering at the Fairy Tail guild as they celebrated the joining of two of Fairy Tail's most beloved members, Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster. The wedding ceremony had been lovely, although a long time coming. They had been together as a couple since their early teens and were now in their mid-twenties. Natsu had not been too keen on getting married, but Gray had pleasant memories of his parents and had wanted that for them, and Natsu had eventually agreed.

It had been a large affair, larger than what they had wanted but they had made so many friends over the years that it would be hard to cut people out from the list. All of Fairy Tail was present of course, along with mages from Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Crime Sorciere, Mermaid Heel, Sabertooth, Quattro Cerberus, and many others. Even Porlyusica had made an appearance, wanting to wish them well as they began their new life together as a married couple.

Natsu took Gray's surname and became Natsu Fullbuster. He had no attachment to his own name, had no memories of his human family, except for Zeref whom he would rather forget. Maybe someday Natsu could forgive the Black Wizard for everything he'd done and come to see him as the doting brother he'd once been, but he was very far from that at the moment.

The boys had written their own vows filled with humor and love. The reception had been everything you would expect from the two, there had been plenty of food and drink, and at one point it had devolved into an all-out multi-guild brawl. No one was happier than Gray and Natsu, they were right in the middle of it with huge grins on their faces as Erza rolled her eyes, requipped, and for once jumped right into the fun.

Now it was time to hand out presents. Erza, Lucy, Cana, and Juvia were tackling the gigantic mountain of gifts. They took turns presenting them to the two husbands and collected and disposed of the wrapping paper as it was torn off. It was Cana's turn to pick, and she grabbed a medium sized rectangular package and handed it to Gray with a smile.

"Here you go!" Cana chirped. "It's from Reedus."

Gray thanked her and handed the card to Natsu to read as he ripped through the wrapping paper. Natsu was busy opening the envelope and looking at the card when he heard Gray's sharp intake of breath and looked over to see what had caused the unusual reaction. Gray had a hand covering his mouth, and his eyes were shiny. Natsu looked over at the item Gray was holding and felt his eyes begin to water as well. That had been the beginning for them, so long ago and Reedus had somehow managed to capture it. Natsu was glad that the pict mage had held on to it for all these years. Their younger selves would surely have destroyed it. They rose from their seats and sought out the pict mage, once they found him in the crowd they embraced him tightly and thanked him sincerely.

Two pairs of eyes met Reedus,' and they all exchanged a warm smile. The special occasion had finally arrived.

 _Flashback_

 _The guild brats had been sitting around on a summer day doing nothing but complaining about the heat while the adults, which was a very loose term in the Fairy Tail Guild, were drinking the day away and ignoring the youngest members._

 _Cana looked at the barrels of alcohol with longing. She had recently discovered that not only did she like the contents of those barrels but she could drink copious amounts of them without being negatively affected. It made her feel older, and it was something that she could do better than anyone else. Even the adults._

 _Erza was feeling irritated, everywhere she looked there was nothing but wasted potential. She wanted to walk over to all of them and set them on the right path. She knew from experience that this would not go over well with the older guild members. She turned her attention to the other kids her age and her gaze narrowed with interest as she noticed how Natsu looked at Gray with his large innocent eyes and sat as close to the ice mage as humanly possible without being in his lap. She watched, waiting for Gray to lash out at the fire mage but the ice mage was either unaware of the attention or unwilling to do anything about it. Both were unusual for him. This set Erza to thinking, also a dangerous thing. The red-headed knight mage did not miss much._

 _Gray had been doing nothing but creating ice cubes for anyone who asked, expending precious magic, and he was starting to get annoyed by the demands. Meanwhile, Natsu was sitting so close to him that he had no choice but to release a constant amount of magic to keep himself cool against the continuous onslaught of heat coming from the fire mage. Gray could have asked Natsu to move, but there was something about having Natsu so near that was almost reassuring. He didn't question it, determined to enjoy the feeling a little longer until he began to run low on magic. It had been a long time since Gray had allowed himself this level of intimacy with someone else. He had no idea why it would be the pyro of all people, but he was too tired to give it much thought._

 _Natsu, on the other hand, felt like he could almost purr, he was so content. The combination of his magic and Gray's next to him had him blissed out. It was that perfect temperature that made you want to cuddle up and sleep although he could just imagine the consequences of trying to cuddle up with Gray Fullbuster. He didn't know what it was about the ice mage that made him feel this way. All Natsu knew was that for the first time since he had woken up alone, with no Igneel to be found, he belonged with someone, and he had no desire to question it. For once, he would just accept it. They could go back to being at each other's throats tomorrow._

 _Erza caught Cana's attention and gestured at the two boys. Cana looked at her quizzically until she understood what Erza was trying to tell her and grinned mischievously. She got up from the bar where she had been hoping someone would offer her a drink, even though Makarov had expressly forbidden it in his absence, and sat next to Erza. The two of them whispered and giggled conspiratorially. In truth, it was the closest the two had been with each other. Both girls were somewhat shy and awkward. This was the first time they felt that maybe they could be friends. After a final nod, Erza walked over to the boys._

 _"It's too hot in here, and there's nothing to do, why don't we go swimming in the river?" she suggested to the two boys._

 _Neither one looked like they really wanted to move but one look at the way her face began to darken at their ennui made both boys quickly scramble to their feet, eager to avoid getting their heads knocked together._

" _Y-yeah, that's a great idea Erza." Gray stammered out._

 _"Scaaaary," Natsu mumbled under his breath, much to Gray's amusement._

 _"I think that sounds like fun," Cana announced, surprising the two boys. Cana never did anything with the rest of them. All of a sudden, the idea of going to the river sounded exciting._

" _We don't have any towels or anything." Gray pointed out._

 _"That's ok, we can swim in our clothes, and I can dry us all off with my fire when we get out," Natsu said happily. He had only been in the guild for a few months, but he loved it. It was so nice to not be alone anymore. He liked most everyone there, even the ice stripper when he wasn't trying to show him up._

 _"I don't want to get burnt to a crisp by a stupid Flame Brain like you." Gray taunted, but even to his own ears there wasn't much bite behind the comment. It was just too hot to bother._

 _Natsu looked at him with his big eyes, and although Gray didn't know what he wanted, he knew he wanted to give it to him. He grabbed Natsu's arm and dragged him behind him before he even knew what he was doing or why. It felt right. He noticed Natsu did not complain like he usually would._

 _The group of four kids made their way to the riverbank where they all stripped down to whatever they felt most comfortable to swim in and jumped in the river. They all sighed as the water cooled their sweaty bodies and soon began to play. After a while, the girls got out and sat down on the riverbank and enjoyed the breeze. They continued to whisper as before while they watched the two boys continue to play. They were having all kinds of contests. Who could swim the furthest on one breath, who could hold their breath longer underwater, who could splash the furthest, who could get the most skips from a rock. If it was able to be turned into a contest, they were doing it. Finally, even they became exhausted and swam back to the riverbank to join Cana and Erza._

 _Just like before Natsu sat much too close to Gray, claiming that he needed to be close to dry him off. He was still learning to control the temperature of his flames, and it was easier if Gray was almost an extension of himself. For this reason, he grabbed Gray's hand and placed it in his. Gray was a little nervous about putting his well being in the hands of someone who destroyed things on a regular basis, but he still felt that strange sense of rightness, and so he allowed it to happen. This had been the nicest day they had ever spent together, and it made him wish that they could hold on to this peace, preferring it to their petty squabbles._

" _I'm hungry!" Erza said all of a sudden. "Why don't we have a picnic?"_

 _Natsu immediately became excited at the prospect of food and Erza, and Cana laughed at his eagerness. They quickly ran off to the guild to get some food for their picnic, leaving the two boys alone._

" _Are you ready, Gray?" Natsu asked and waited for his friend to give his agreement._

 _Natsu gave Gray a smile before he closed his eyes and for all intents and purposes set himself on fire. Gray flinched when he felt the heat radiating from his friend, and his body instinctively tried to pull away, but Natsu squeezed his hand and held him firm._

" _I can do this Gray." Natsu insisted, furrowing his brow in concentration. "Trust me."_

 _Gray found himself caught in Natsu's pleading gaze. How could he say no? Gray relaxed his muscles and closed his eyes, trusting Natsu not to hurt him. He waited for something to happen and soon felt warmth all around him. Gray opened his eyes and stared at himself in wonder, his body was covered in fire. The flames licked at him gently, and he sighed in contentment. It felt wonderful in contrast to his usual chill, and he found himself reaching out to touch the fire, his other hand never letting go of Natsu's._

 _Natsu watched the ice mage's wonder with a smile and began to manipulate his flames making them bigger and smaller so that Gray could play with them. He fought hard to keep the fire going and the temperature the same. He used all the control Macao had been instilling in him for as long as he could, fascinated by the sight of Gray playing with *his* fire, an act that felt oddly intimate. Seeing the usually closed off Gray drop his guard made Natsu feel happy. Once again that feeling of belonging swept over him, and he embraced it._

" _Where are the girls?" Gray asked as his stomach began to grumble. "They should have been back with food ages ago?"_

 _Natsu shrugged not really caring for the moment. He let go of his flames, and he thought he saw a faint flicker of disappointment cross Gray's features but dismissed it as his imagination. He began to feel drowsy and let himself drift off._

 _Erza and Cana returned from the guild, once they had told Macao's wife that they wanted to have a picnic with the boys she thought the idea so sweet that she immediately went about putting together a feast for them. They couldn't wait to see the boy's faces when they saw their haul. There was so much food that they'd loaded Erza's red wagon with a blanket and enough food to feed a small army._

 _They pulled the wagon up the hill, and when they got to the top, they were stopped by Reedus Jonah, the guild's pict mage. He pushed a finger against his lips and pointed at where the boys were sitting by the riverbank. Erza's jaw almost fell to the ground as she saw Gray covered in Natsu's fire, and looking impossibly content. Cana, who had known Gray even longer was also shocked. The girls saw that Reedus had his easel out and had already begun sketching. They spread their blanket on the ground and began to eat as they watched Reedus work. By the time Reedus had finished his painting, both boys had fallen asleep in a heap, and the girls had shared their food with the pict mage._

" _You know girls." Reedus smiled at Erza and Cana, "I think we've just witnessed the beginning of something special."_

 _Both girls smiled in agreement. They stared in awe at the details that Reedus had added to his picture._

" _Are you going to give it to them?" Cana asked._

 _"Non, I think I will save it for a special occasion." Reedus smiled mysteriously. He collected his supplies and waved goodbye to the girls before walking back to the guild. The girls pulled Erza's wagon, full of the remaining food, back to where the boys were sleeping._

A/N I like the idea of a multi-guild brawl at their wedding :).


	6. It's Over

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima.

Day 6 Prompt: Secrets

Chapter 1: It's Over

Natsu's breath came in pants as he rode out the endorphin-induced high of his climax. He nudged the naked man that had collapsed on top of him and shifted uncomfortably as he waited for him to move onto the bed. He felt the familiar sadness overwhelm him as Gray lay next to him on the large bed. Natsu's heart ached with the knowledge that this was all it would ever be.

Gray's raven hair was disheveled and his breathing ragged, but his navy blue eyes looked content. He smiled at Natsu as he began to trail his fingers down the dragon slayer's bare chest, tracing his muscles lazily.

"That was great!" Gray exclaimed as he leaned in to kiss Natsu. He was confused when Natsu did not return it. He felt an unfamiliar pang in the pit of his stomach, but he ignored it.

"Ready to go again?" He asked as his fingers continued to touch Natsu's body in ways that he knew would arouse the dragon slayer.

Gray grinned as he reached down with his hand, ready to tease his lover into further play, but Natsu stopped him and got up off the bed. He grabbed the sheets and used them to clean himself up.

"I can't do this anymore," Natsu uttered. He realized with panic he'd said the words out loud, but he also felt the rightness of them. Even though he had been postponing this moment for the last week, he couldn't put it off any longer. Every time they parted ways after one of their nights together and pretended there was nothing between them, the emptiness in his soul grew to the point he was ashamed of himself. He really couldn't do this any longer. He could already feel the beginnings of resentment towards Gray brewing inside of him. He began the process of finding his clothes. They had been thrown every which way in their urgency to possess each other. Natsu put them on as quickly as he was able.

"What are you talking about? Can't do what anymore?" Gray asked him confused. "I thought we were having fun. Are you still upset because I don't want to tell the guild about us?"

Natsu did his best to appear unaffected. "I didn't expect you to tell anyone about us because that would imply that there was an us."

"Natsu, we've talked about this. I don't do relationships. It has nothing to do with it being you, I didn't tell anyone when I was fucking Cana either."

Natsu flinched at that. He'd assumed that had happened, but until that moment he hadn't known for sure. He let the information slip away from him, it wasn't important anymore. Gray was not his, after all, he belonged to no one, and that was just the way he liked it. After today Gray would be telling someone else how he didn't tell the guild when he was fucking Cana or Natsu, and it would no longer have anything to do with him. He'd be just that, another person Gray had used and moved on from.

Those thoughts hurt. Natsu had known how Gray was about these things, how could he not, they'd been friends for a long time. He'd let the attraction that he'd long felt for the ice mage blind him to the truth. It had been his choice to engage in what was fated to be nothing more than a physical relationship, but that didn't soften the blow now that he was choosing to end it.

Somewhere along the line, his attraction had deepened into love, and while he might not be smart in the way that Lucy and Levy were, he was smart enough to realize that if he left now, there was still a chance that they might be able to remain friends. Life could continue as before.

"I know, Gray." Natsu said evenly, "I thought I could do this, but I was wrong. I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a replacement."

He looked down at the ice mage laying naked on the bed they'd shared on and off for the last three months, Gray's face a mixture of confusion and sadness, or at least that's what Natsu told himself. He wanted their time together to mean something, but he knew for Gray it never had. "It was fun. I'll see you around, Droopy Eyes."

Now entirely dressed he left Gray's bedroom and quickly let himself out of the ice mage's apartment before the ice mage could say anything. Part of him hoped that Gray would come after him, but he knew that was never going to happen. That would show a vulnerability that Natsu did not think Gray was capable of. He suddenly felt the urge to drink with Cana for a bit, so he made his way over to the guild hall. Even though she would not know why Natsu was searching her out, he felt that she was the one person who could understand how he was feeling, and he wasn't ready to be alone just yet.

He found her quickly, sitting in her usual spot at the bar drinking from a large barrel in the nearly empty guild hall. He looked at her, curious about whether he would feel any jealousy, but that would be ridiculous, Gray had cared no more for her than he did for Natsu. Natsu sat down on the stool next to the card mage and nodded a greeting. Even though it was late, she didn't seem to be very inebriated yet.

"Hey, stranger!" Cana greeted him. She was glad that one of her friends had come into the guild this late. Although the card mage didn't mind drinking alone, she much preferred drinking with her friends.

"I was out for a walk, and I figured I'd see who was here." Natsu lied.

"Is everything ok?" Cana looked at him with interest. "You're not your usual loud, annoying self."

"Gee thanks," Natsu replied sarcastically. "It's been a rough day, but you can make it all better. Buy me a drink?"

Cana snorted but gestured Mira to bring Natsu a drink. "Now I know something's wrong with you. You never drink. Come on Pinky, spill." Cana's tone was light, but she was mildly concerned. Natsu rarely drank outside of parties, and he always made it a point to appear cheerful even when he wasn't.

He remained silent, and Cana grew more concerned. This really was not like the dragon slayer at all.

"Come on Natsu, you came here for a reason. Just spit it out."

Natsu gave a small laugh, "You're right, I did. I just broke up with someone, and I'm feeling a bit down."

"That is a rough day. I'm sorry, I didn't even know you were seeing anyone. What happened?" Cana wrapped her friend in a hug and held on to him for as long as he let her. They had been friends since they were children, but over the years they had drifted apart. He spent all of his time with his team, and Cana had discovered the joys of drinking. That did not mean that she didn't still care for him deeply. She also knew if she ever needed him, he would be there for her, no questions asked. It was just the relationship all the Fairy Tail "brats" had with each other.

"Yeah, that's kind of the way he wanted it," Natsu said as Mira placed a glass of fire whiskey in front of Natsu before tending to her other customers. He stared at the glass for a minute before downing it in one gulp. Natsu slammed the glass back on the bar and felt a soft warmth slide down his insides until it reached his belly. He'd forgotten how nice that felt.

Cana looked at him curiously but waited patiently for the Fire Dragon Slayer to tell her what happened.

"Nothing really happened, I just realized I wanted love, and all he wanted was sex. That's not the type of relationship I want. I need more, without it, I just felt empty."

"I never figured you for a romantic, Although, now that I think about it, kinda suits you." She smiled at him kindly as she ruffled his hair gently. "The way you always rush off to save everyone, you're like a knight in shining armor."

Natsu snorted, "That's Erza's gig, not mine. I'm just the destructive dragon."

Cana laughed. Natsu was glad he had come, it was nice to spend time with Cana. It had been a while. "What about you? Are you seeing anyone?"

"Nope, just this big boy over here." She pointed at the barrel she was drinking from. "Why, you interested?" Cana teased him as she winked at him playfully.

Natsu chuckled at her. "Nope, I think I'm going to take a break from anything to do with dating."

"That's probably a good idea. No sense in rushing into anything."

Natsu looked around to make sure no one was close enough to listen to their conversation. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Were you in love with Gray?"

Cana looked at him open-mouthed. She had never told anyone that she had dated the ice mage.

"How do you know about- " Cana stopped as understanding dawned on her. "Gray? Is that who you broke up with?"

Natsu nodded sadly. "Please don't tell anyone."

"I won't." She promised him. "To answer your question, no I was never in love with him. We had fun until we didn't, and then we ended it. You're right, he has no clue when it comes to romance."

"Surely you're not asking this idiot about romance?" A voice joined their conversation causing Natsu to tense up. "He wouldn't know the first thing about it."

"Oh, and you do?" Cana scoffed, one eyebrow raised. "From what, I remember romance to you is pretty much limited to whether you engage in foreplay or not."

Gray looked around the guild to see who was there but relaxed visibly when he saw no one was near enough to hear their conversation.

"I'm not interested in romance. I like to keep things simple."

"Is that so? Then why haven't you jumped on Juvia? You know she'd fuck you in a heartbeat."

"Juvia is in no way simple. Even if you take away the creepy stalking factor, she's convinced she's in love with me. I wouldn't take advantage of that."

He stole a look at Natsu who was staring intently at the empty glass in front of him. Was that the problem? Did the fire mage have feelings for him? He grumbled in frustration. Dammit, Natsu was the best sex he'd ever had. He'd come to the guild looking for him. He knew Natsu would not want to be alone and he wanted to try to talk to him. Gray didn't want their relationship to end but if Natsu had feelings for him he didn't want to hurt him. He cared for the flame brain too much for that. He felt blindsided by the idea that Natsu of all people could be infatuated with him, how could he not have noticed?

Natsu was not ready to see Gray so soon, his heart twinged uneasily at the ice mage's proximity He needed to get out of there. He gestured Mira for another drink and downed it just as quickly as the first. "I'm going home, Happy is probably waiting up for me."

He got up and left the guild. He headed towards the forest path that led to his house. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around as he recognized the smell that still hung on him somewhat.

"Go home, Gray," he said firmly.

The ice mage looked at him with an expression that Natsu could not easily decipher. "Is that why you broke it off? You're in love with me?"

"Did you just follow me so you could make fun of me?" Natsu asked tiredly.

"I'm not making fun of you. Just answer my question."

"Yes, Ice Block as much as it pains me to admit it," Natsu replied.

"But why?"

"Hell if I know."

"Natsu, I -"

"Please don't say anything. I left because I already know you don't feel the same way. I'm trying to salvage our friendship."

"I don't even know what to say," Gray said as the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach returned full force.

Natsu nodded absently as he turned back towards his home. "Good night, Ice Princess." He gave a backward wave and continued his walk home.

Gray stared after him. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel sad. Outside of their brawls, Gray didn't like the idea of hurting his friend. He had a nasty feeling that for all of Natsu's words things would no longer be the same between them. Gray made his way back to the guild, not wanting to face his empty apartment or his bed that still smelled of the Fire Dragon Slayer. Not now that he knew it never would again. He sat at the bar and ordered a drink from Mira.

"You really are a dumbass." Cana bit into him.

"Why is that exactly?"

"You're just going to let him go, just like that?"

"What are you babbling about?'

"Oh please, don't act dumb. Natsu."

"What about him?"

"Gray," Cana sighed in annoyance, "why must you always push everyone away?"

So he had told her then. "He chose to break it off, Cana, not the other way around. I can't force him to stay with me if he doesn't want to."

"Because he's in love with you! Are you going to tell me you really feel nothing for him? That's bullshit, I have no idea how the two of you even managed to get together, but I know you. He's important to you, he always has been. There's no way you would have risked your friendship if you didn't feel something."

"I think you're reading too much into the situation."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

Gray got up, no longer wanting to stay if she was going to continue this conversation. He made his way towards the guild doors.

"For God's sake Gray, stop running from your feelings!" Cana yelled after him.

Gray slammed the door behind him.

"What was that about?" Mira asked Cana as she brought her some snacks to go with her beer.

Cana shrugged noncommittally remembering her promise to Natsu. As she drank, she thought about the situation her two childhood friends now found themselves in. Gray had definitely seemed upset, perhaps Natsu was wrong. She got her cards out of her bag and slowly laid them out on the bar in front of her.

To Be Continued at some point…..


	7. It's Over - Chapter 2

Gratsu Bingo 2019

Prompt: Coffee

Chapter 2

Gray thought about changing the sheets when he got home, but he couldn't bring himself to. He inhaled Natsu's scent, still strong on his pillows, could feel his body reacting to it, but he wasn't in the mood for pleasure anymore. He remembered Natsu telling him how people's smells didn't last very long, and for some reason, it made a knot form in his throat.

He just wanted Natsu back in his bed, needed to wrap himself around him as they slept. It was one of his favorite things to do with the fire mage outside of having sex, and knowing that it wasn't going to happen tonight or any other night left him feeling dissatisfied.

He spent a long restless night, all sorts of thoughts going through his mind. For the first time that he could remember, he wanted to fix things, but he didn't know how. Usually, when someone left him, he rarely thought about them again. Just moved on to someone else.

 _For God's sake Gray, stop running from your feelings!_

Cana's words lingered in his mind, but he refused to admit they had any merit. He did _not_ have feelings for Natsu thank you very much. Sure, they were friends and teammates, and he cared what happened to him to a certain extent, and his body, well, his body was incredible, no complaints there. And he was fun to talk to and fight with and fuck.

 _Damnit!_

No, there was just no way he could lead Natsu on just because he was a great fuck. Natsu was in love with him, and he was not going to play with him. Nope. Not when he did _not_ have any feelings for him. He finally managed to get to bed right before dawn, only to be woken up by loud knocking at his door a few short hours later.

"Gray! Why the hell aren't you at the guild yet?" Erza's angry shouts could be heard all the way to his room.

 _Shit! They were supposed to take a job today. He'd completely forgotten._

He ran to open his door, for once wearing pajama pants. "Sorry, Erza, I had a hard time getting to sleep."

Erza could only snort at him, "Oh yeah? What was her name?"

"What? Why do you automatically assume I had someone here?"

"Because your apartment reeks of sex. Didn't anyone ever teach you to change your sheets after you were done? Seriously, Gray. That's disgusting."

Erza went into his room and stripped his bed, throwing everything in the washing machine he'd recently bought after one too many incidents at the laundromat. He knew better than to say anything to her, but he was angry, and as he heard the machine run, he couldn't help but feel like she'd taken something special away from him. What the hell was going on with him?

He didn't know, but he was now in a foul mood, and that was a bad thing to be in where Erza was involved.

"Why are you standing there glaring at me? Go get dressed, we need you at the guild," Erza snapped, hands at her waist and foot tapping restlessly.

Gray scrambled to get ready, but that feeling of loss didn't leave him. Now he really had nothing to come home to. Maybe he should go out that night and find someone to replace Natsu in his bed. That might be best for everyone.

He walked with Erza to the guild, trying to keep his temper in check as she continued to get on his case about every little thing. When they finally entered he went straight to Mira for a cup of coffee, getting himself some distance from the overbearing Erza. He could hear Natsu quietly talking with Lucy, and he had to wonder.

Was he telling her about what happened between them? From the way Lucy was laughing, he doubted it. He could feel eyes on him and turned to see Cana smirking.

"What?" he snapped, still pissed at her for not letting things go the night before.

"I read your cards last night," Cana grinned looking very smug, "I see coffee in your future."

"Well, duh, I'm drinking it right now, Genius. Your powers are seriously slipping if this is the best you can do," Gray rolled his eyes, but Cana only giggled knowingly and went back to her barrel.

He willed himself to act normal and walked over to his team's table, sitting next to Natsu, thinking it would be easier to not have to look at him. Natsu grunted a greeting and went back to talking with Lucy, and Gray immediately realized he'd made a huge tactical mistake.

When he was sitting next to Natsu, he couldn't help but smell him, which was making his body react in ways that were not exactly appropriate to the guild and it made him almost ache with the need to move his hand just a little bit so he could touch him. But that wasn't allowed anymore, and he couldn't move, or someone might notice his problem.

"Gray?" Lucy was waving her arm in front of his face, and he blinked at her.

"What?"

"Weren't you listening? Erza asked you to go to the Request Board, it's your turn to pick a mission."

"Uhm, I don't care, you can pick this time," Gray replied, both his hands going down to his lap. Natsu raised an eyebrow at him, and when he noticed where his hands were, he looked hurt.

"Hey Erza, I just remembered I was supposed to go to Saber today to do some training with Sting and Rogue," Natsu muttered through clenched teeth.

"Fine, fine. Training is a much better use of your excess energy than fighting with Gray, we'll see you when you get back."

Natsu said his goodbyes and after calling out to Happy, left the guildhall without even a glance in Gray's direction.

Lucy looked after him confused, "He never told me anything about that, did you know anything, Gray?"

"Why the hell would I know anything about what that idiot does?" Gray retorted, trying to sound normal, but inside he felt anything but. It wasn't his fault that his body had become used to certain things around Natsu. He hadn't like that look either, it made his stomach feel funny.

Thinking about where Natsu was going to avoid him was making him feel even worse. Why the hell would Natsu go see Sting, that guy was always all over him, and he'd claimed to hate it.

Gray wanted to tear someone's head off, preferably the blond Sabertooth Master if he dared lay a hand on Natsu. At least, his other problem had ebbed, and he could stand up to look for a mission. To his frustration, none of them were anywhere near Sabertooth.

He grabbed one that would let him beat up the largest amount of creatures, much to Erza's approval and they soon set off. The mission did him some good, he got to pummel Vulcans to his heart's content. Lucy mentioned she'd never seen him so violent before, whereas Erza studied him with interest.

But all Gray could do was think about the fights he would have had if Natsu were there, the fun they would have had ganging up on Lucy and how they would have competed over who defeated the most Vulcans. It just wasn't any fun at all without him around.

They were gone for two long days and when they returned Natsu had yet to come home. Gray was about ready to head over to Sabertooth himself, when Natsu finally showed up, a relaxed smile on his lips. One that Gray recognized well, and he felt like someone had stuck a dagger in his heart.

"Natsu, you're back!" Lucy greeted him cheerfully, "How was your visit?"

"It was fun, Yukino gave me something for you, said you'd asked her for it," Natsu rummaged through his bag and handed her a wrapped parcel.

Lucy squealed excitedly, rushing over to Levy to show her whatever was inside.

Natsu looked over at Gray finally and gave him a tentative smile, but when he noticed Gray's strange expression, he asked: "What's the matter with you?"

Gray just turned away and walked to the bar, asking Mira for a drink. Natsu had slept with Sting, how could he do that to him? After admitting only three days ago to being in love with him. Did he think he'd just be able to forget Gray by replacing him with Sting? Was he going to leave Fairy Tail to go to Sabertooth?

Every drink made him feel worse. It hurt. It seriously hurt to think of anyone but him touching Natsu, it felt like the fire mage had betrayed him. Like he'd sucker-punched him when he was already down.

Why did he feel like this?

Is this what Natsu had felt when Gray refused to acknowledge they were together? Because if it was, then Gray had to admit he was an asshole. But he hadn't gone off and slept with someone else, dammit!

"Does anyone know why he's acting like this?" Natsu asked his guildmates, having no idea of anything that might have happened in his absence.

All of them looked at him with equally clueless expressions.

"I don't know, but I'm about to cut him off," Mira frowned at Gray's slumped body, "Natsu, could you be a dear and take him out for some coffee or something, it might help sober him up."

Natsu wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea, but he'd had a long talk with Sting and Rogue about the situation, and they'd encouraged him to try to actually talk to Gray about his feelings. Both of them thought Gray returned them, but he was too much of a dumbass to realize it. He wasn't as convinced, but he figured if Gray was drunk, it was more likely that he'd let down his walls and be honest with him.

"Coffee?" Natsu scratched his head, where was he supposed to take a drunken mage out for coffee at this hour?

"You could take him home, unless that's a problem?" Mira suggested, not understanding Natsu's resistance to her simple request, "He's got tons of coffee there."

Cana smirked into her drink and watched Natsu's discomfort with amusement.

"Uhm, no, I guess that's fine," Natsu tried to grab the lump that was Gray, but when he saw who was touching him, he started to struggle against him.

"Don't touch me, you fucking cheater!"

"What are you even talking about?" Natsu looked around the guild nervously, Cana was looking at them with interest, while Mira looked just as confused as he felt.

"You went to Sabertooth, and you let Sting —"

"Okay, let's get you home," Natsu interrupted, covering Gray's mouth as he helped him up and dragged him out of the guild, not noticing Cana watching them with a knowing grin.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Natsu roared, "I thought you didn't want people to know about us."

"I don't knoooow," Gray whined drunkenly, "You _did_ something to me."

"I didn't do anything, you idiot," Natsu protested, "I went away to give us both some space."

"You fucked Sting, I'd call that something!"

Gray felt himself falling before he was caught by familiar arms that continued to pull him along.

"What?! I did no such thing, sleeping around is your thing, not mine."

"Don't you dare put this back on me, I haven't slept with anyone since you dumped me!"

"Wow, Ice Block, for three whole days? You deserve some sort of prize," Natsu deadpanned, although he had to admit that information sort of surprised him. He'd half expected Gray to have found someone already.

"That's sarcasm, isn't it?" Gray accused, irritated by Natsu's response even though he knew he deserved it. "You're missing the point. There's something wrong with me."

"I can't stop thinking about you, and not just sex stuff. Other stuff, that's why I knew you slept with Sting when I saw your smile, it's the same one you always have after we do it," Gray ranted, words pouring out of his mouth before he could stop them.

He could hear Natsu sigh, "You really are an idiot, aren't you? It's called being happy, Gray. I had that smile cause I was happy to see you again, although God knows why when you're acting like this."

"You really didn't sleep with Sting?" Gray couldn't let go of the image of Sting touching Natsu, it made him want to cry and kill Sting at the same time.

"No, I didn't. I'm not interested in Sting, I've told you that before," Natsu pressed his lips together, he couldn't understand what the hell was going through Gray's head.

"I don't get why I feel like this," Gray lamented, "What does it even mean?"

"I don't know, Ice Princess, only you can answer that," Natsu replied, looking around to see how far they were from Gray's apartment. Not too much further. With a grunt, he continued to bear most of the ice mage's weight until reaching his front door. Gray had been quiet for the last few minutes, and Natsu nudged him to open the door.

He quickly got him inside and dropped him on his couch before turning around to leave. As much as he'd wanted to talk to Gray, it had pissed him off that he would think that Natsu would sleep with Sting so easily.

"Natsu."

There was nothing more, just his name, but the intensity in Gray's voice made Natsu stop at the door. He refused to turn around, though.

"What?"

"Stay."

The sheer vulnerability in the way Gray said that word was something Natsu had never heard before. It shocked him, it was everything he'd hoped for, but as he felt his resolve weakening, he fought against it.

"I can't," Natsu clenched the edge of Gray's front door hard enough to feel splinters piercing his skin, "You already know how I feel."

"Please."

Natsu cursed, he couldn't say no to that, and he knew it, not when Gray was practically begging him.

"Fine," he barked, closing the door as loudly as he dared, and moving to the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot, "but we're not having this conversation with you drunk."

Natsu made them two large cups of black coffee, handing one over to Gray after adding some sugar. He didn't really want his, but the warmth in between his hands was comforting. He sat down on the couch and waited patiently for Gray to finish his coffee, before handing him his and placing the empty cup on the coffee table, knowing Gray liked his coffee room temperature anyway.

"Feel better?" Natsu tilted his head, taking in Gray's appearance. He looked haggard, his usually clean-shaven face was covered in stubble, and his eyes seemed impossibly tired, but Natsu reasoned that might just have been because he'd been on a job with the team.

Gray shook his head and laughed bitterly, "Missions aren't fun, my house feels empty, and my insides feel weird."

Natsu sighed, "You're being overly dramatic. It's normal to feel sad when something ends, you'll find someone else soon, and you'll forget all about this."

"You don't understand, I've never felt this way before," Gray snapped, frustrated that Natsu didn't seem to get what he was trying to say. "I don't want anyone else! I want your smell on my sheets, your sounds during sex, and your body against mine while we sleep."

"Gray —"

"Shut up, I'm not done! I want you to comfort me when I have nightmares, and annoy me when I'm trying to read and goad me into fights and yell at me when I get hurt."

"If this is what it means to have feelings, then yes, I admit it, I have them. Just please stay with me," Gray implored, and in a quieter voice, he added, "Please take me back, nothing's any good without you."

Natsu didn't know how to respond, he'd never expected anything like this to happen. It was more than he'd ever dreamed he'd hear from Gray. He didn't have any words to express how he felt. Instead, he grabbed the cup out of Gray's hands and placed it next to the other one.

He led Gray upstairs to his bedroom and undressed them both down to their boxers. Gray didn't protest, and when Natsu lay down on the bed, Gray quickly lay next to him, nervous about making a move. Afraid Natsu would leave if he did the wrong thing.

Natsu turned and gave Gray a chaste kiss before grabbing his arm and wrapping it around his waist, spooning into Gray's cooler body.

"Goodnight, Gray."

"Goodnight, Natsu," Gray held Natsu against his body, leaning down to kiss his head with reverence.

The taste of coffee, still bitter on his breath, reminded Gray of Cana's prediction, and he chuckled, wondering what else the cards had shown her. He'd find out soon enough.

Tomorrow he'd tell everyone about them. He couldn't wait to see how they would react when he showed them Natsu was _his_ boyfriend.

Gray inhaled the pleasant scent of Natsu in his bed and in his arms, drifting off with a contented smile. He couldn't help but feel like everything was right with the universe once again.

A/N: It feels good to finish something! This story was part of last week's Gratsu Week, I had meant for this to be a longer multi-chapter but I lost the motivation. I did want them to end up together though so that had to be fixed ASAP!


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